Vipers
From Wild India
VIPERS Viperide
Russell's Viper Daboia russelii
Russell's Viper is thick and, appearing to be sluggish in movement. It has light brown to dark mud brown color.It has a chain of irregular oval or diamond shaped dark markings on the back. Sometimes the chain is broken. Triangle shaped head, small neck and has a short tail. When cornered or threatened, the snake coils up & hisses very loudly. Usually 3-4ft & can grow more than 5ft! These Vipers are found near rocky areas, scrub jungle to dry deciduous forests. Not common in moist deciduous forests. Common in Agricultural fields & near Human habitation due to presence of rodents in plently. Found through out Indian Subcontinent. Feeds on Rodents, lizards & small birds.
Russell's Viper has pretty long fangs with heamotoxic venom, immediate symptoms of this snakebite are swelling & burning pains. Bite causes tissue damage leading to gangrene. It’s responsible for large-scale physical damage (amputations, etc.) & mortalities. Russell's Viper are very often mistaken as a Python or Boa.
Saw-scaled Viper Echis carinatus
A short viper with an oval shaped head, having a zigzag light markings on either side of the body and ‘A’ sort of mark on the head. When cornered or threatened, this snake coils up in ‘S’ shape position and starts to rub its scales to produce a soft hissing sound. Saw-scaled Vipers rarely exceeding 1.5ft in South India but can grow more than 2ft commonly in Northwest India. Found in desert to dry deciduous forests but not common in moist deciduous forests. Feeds mainly on lizards, mice, scorpions & insects.
This snake is very well camouflaged and due to the size, it is barely noticed by anyone. It is a small snake with long fangs and highly toxic venom. Immediate symptoms of a bite from this snake are swelling and burning pains. As the snake is small, the venom injected may be less and immediate large-scale symptoms are sometimes not seen. So ignoring this, death can come slow and late.
